Container fittings and caps coupled to container mouth openings are known in the art. Typically, containers are closed using a dedicated fitting/cap, with one class of containers holding liquid refreshments such as water, juices, soft drinks and sport/energy drinks. To partake of the liquid within the container, particularly when a secondary container is unavailable, a user needs to remove the fitting/cap and drink directly from the bottle mouth opening. Such direct drinking may be difficult for young children and may cause issues for adults, such as inadvertent spillage or smearing of lipstick. Direct drinking may also pose a danger by causing an unnecessary distraction while driving. Moreover, to ease drink accessibility, a user may decide not to replace the fitting/cap in between sips thereby necessitating that the container remain in an open state. This is most often the case where parents have children drink through a straw which is placed within the container. However, any tipping or inversion of the container may result in spilling, and potentially catastrophic emptying, of the container contents.
As an attempt to alleviate the above shortcomings of conventional caps/fitting, there are a number of alternative container fittings available. However, each of these fittings suffers from one or more significant drawbacks. For instance, one example of a typical fitting includes a threaded fitting with a resealable nozzle. The threaded fitting is sized to fit a standard disposable water bottle. Its nozzle may be opened using fingers or teeth so that liquid may be poured or squirted into the mouth and then closed when not in use to prevent spilling. However, nozzle fittings may be unsuitable for small children as nozzle flow rates may be too fast thereby leading to choking, aspiration or spillage. Also, the resealable nozzle, as known in the art, is comprised of multiple, close-fitting parts which add to the cost of the bottle, and an unnecessary cost if the resealable nozzle is removed to access the bottle's contents.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a container fitting which addresses the above recited limitations in the art. What is needed is a container fitting that may receive a disposable straw without requiring removal of the fitting from the container. The fitting may also be leak-resistant while also allowing the container contents to be readily available to a user in a safe, clean and accessible manner.